The Form of Ishta Devata and its worship

Lord Vishnu appears in this world through different grahas and those grahas indicate the appropriate
Avatara that should be worshipped as one's Ishta Devata. The list of those various incarnations and
planets associated with them is given in the Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, chapter 2, verses 5-7:
''From Surya the avatara of Rama, from Chandra that of Krishna, from Mangal that of Narasimha,
from Buddha that of Lord Buddha, from Guru that of Vamana, from Shukra that of Parashurama, from
Shani that of Kurma, from Rahu that of Varaha and from Ketu that of Meena occurred. All other
incarnations (than these) are also through the grahas (...)''
As far as the worship of other Devatas is concerned, the list of those Deities and their corresponding
planets was given by Parashara Muni in his Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra in the chapter on
Karakamsa. It was also presented by Jaimini Maharishi in his Upadesha Sutras (1.2.7279): Surya
indicates Lord Shiva, Chandra indicates Gouri, Shukra indicates Lakshmi, Mangal indicates Skanda,
Buddha and Shani both indicate Lord Vishnu, Guru indicates Samba Shiva, Rahu indicates Tamasi or
Durga and Ketu indicates Lord Ganesha.
Everyone is eligible for the worship of one's Ishta Devata and everyone at least should know their
Ishta Devata. The process of worship is simple and is based on the chanting of the dvadakshari
mantra for the appropriate Deity. Although this chanting alone is very powerful, an ideal situation is
when one also performs panca upachara puja to one's Ishta Devata.
The term 'dvadakshari mantra' means 'the twelve syllable mantra'. An examplary dvadakshari mantra
for Lord Vishnu as Ishta Devata is given by the Parashara Muni in his Vishnu Purana. The ugra
madhusudana mantra given there by the sage is as follows:
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya.
Parashara Muni advises people to chant it and says that with this mantra we ask Lord Vishnu to pick
up His sudarshana chakra and liberate us. The mantra bhoga of this particular mantra is mukti.
Therefore it should be done for one's Ishta Devata with the purpose of making progress towards final
emancipation.
The Avataras of Lord Vishnu
Each Vishnu Avatar is worshipped with a different dvadakshari mantra. Herein I have presented each
of these incarnations with a short description and the suggested mantra. One should know that there
are often more than one dvadakshari mantra for a particular Vishnu Avatar. As some of them are not
in line with the tradition and parampara it is advised to refer to authorities while choosing an
appropriate one.